Problem with one the philosophy of one of the instructors.

Hey. The title is poorly written, sorry. I could not change it.

Today, a new guy appeared in my class. He was almost the only white belt in class (class mostly filled with blue beltst and up ), and the instructor in charge at that moment ( brown belt) told me -blue- to roll with this guy. This new dude is an average building boy , about 20 yo. It was his second class -and I think his first roll-The guy even have a gi.

When the bell rang , the man got frozen like a deer under a strong light .He was scared, but looked like a humble and really polite guy. He said '' hey, what do I do '' , so I told him to try to practice the basic positions on my , and if he knows some sub , try to pull it. He pulled guard, tried to dome some armbar, I passed his guard, made him tap carefully with a half guard top guillotine.. We shake hands , and keep rolling. I did let him to gain top position, then practice some escape , and I end in side control top . I was controlling him without applying all my weight ( I am 230 lbs, he was far lighter and new), and then the instructor told me to crush him with all my weight ( the guy was weak,tired , out of shape and could barely breathe with 1/2 my weight on him). Five seconds later, the training bell rang... it was over.
After class I told him that this guy was really new -took his first class with other instructor at the same gym-, and that the guy was freaked out. He said something like this

'' When I started BJJ, in my first class I came home all soared, with a black eye,Itchy joints and bruises in all my body . Punishing the new guys is a way to help them and make them strong. Making him suffer badly under your side control will help him to become a man and, also help you to improve your side control''.

I told him -the instructor- that I think very different. I do not see the point in punishing a weak nerdy newbie teenanger who can not defend himself , who came to train with lots of respect to the upper belts and the grappling etiquette.

I think it's pretty bad to crush the new guy to make him strong. Yes, if he already has self confidence, making it through a trial may have some benefit, but I don't think day 2 is really the time (personally I don't think it's ever the time to "crush" a student to make them strong).

If getting his ass handed to him was the best way to make him strong, and that was in fact his goal, he probably wouldn't need to pay an instructor to do it.

How competitive is your school. In my experience the more competitive the school the more I hear this happen.

If the instructor wants to teach him to be a man he should take him to a lumberjack class, followed by a wild west shoot out, followed by an Arm wrestle, a beard growing contest, a Biggest balls 2012 competition and a marathon sex session with at least 7 women and 3 animals....

If he wants to teach the kid BJJ, then teach him what are good positions to be in, what are bad positions to be in and how to get between the two, and then submissions.

'' When I started BJJ, in my first class I came home all soared, with a black eye,Itchy joints and bruises in all my body . Punishing the new guys is a way to help them and make them strong. Making him suffer badly under your side control will help him to become a man and, also help you to improve your side control''.

Your instructor sounds like an ass. But (take with a grain of salt I have less than a year of bjj myself) being pinned in the last moments of the round when they are tired could help someone get used to the feeling so they would be less likly to panic in the future.

If the instructor wants to teach him to be a man he should take him to a lumberjack class, followed by a wild west shoot out, followed by an Arm wrestle, a beard growing contest, a Biggest balls 2012 competition and a marathon sex session with at least 7 women and 3 animals....

If he wants to teach the kid BJJ, then teach him what are good positions to be in, what are bad positions to be in and how to get between the two, and then submissions.

My coach has always taken the viewpoint that if your skill level is that much higher than your partner's, then you should be good enough to let them walk away knowing that you're better but without a bloody nose and a shiner. I've seen experienced guys who thought they would swing their dicks around and beat on the new people. They got pulled out and the coach gloves up and beats the hell out of them for the remainder of the round. Works out pretty well for everyone. New people get to see that being an asshole has consequences, and experienced people who get it in their heads to piss on the low man on the totem pole get a reminder of what it feels like to get pushed around by someone of a far greater skill level.

Different gyms will have different attitudes, of course. If you're really uncomfortable with the attitude and the way things are run, you can always take your dollar elsewhere. At the end of the day, it's all a business, and money talks.